The Beauty of Grand Marais

We spent Labor Day weekend at Grand Marais and borrowed one of my sister's kids, my nephew, Treyton's cousin, Zack. Since Ivory went with us to Indonesia for a vacation, Jeff and I decided it would only be fair if we took the other kids, separately on a vacation too. So this time Zack got his turn and we plan to take his brother Jacob on our next vacation next year to the Badlands.

Zack showed an interest in hunting for agates when we took my sister Putri and her many kids to Grand Marais for the first time a couple of years ago. So Zack was really looking forward to hunt some more agates as he developed great eye to spot them. Treyton couldn't be anymore happy to have a travel buddy in the back seat.

While the boys spent hours and hours combing beaches after beaches for agates, I spent my time reading my textbook. I was dumb enough to leave the Macbook power adapter so I wasn't able to access my laptop. Doh! Between reading I took some pictures, of course.


sunset at downtown grand marais

Sunset at Downtown Grand Marais


Moose Lake, Minn. Moose Lake, Minn.
Moose Lake and Moose Butt

Moose Lake, Minn.
We're being ATTACKED!

DQ in Grand Marais
At Dairy Queen. They got along so well together!

DQ in Grand Marais
Treyton and his dipped cone

World's Best Donuts
I read this giant ass text book waiting for boys agate hunting.
At least I was accompanied by World's Best Donut, cinnamon sugar cake donut and coconut white chocolate mocha from Java Moose. The view just heightened the senses.

Canal Park, Duluth, MN Canal Park, Duluth, MN
Canal Park Duluth

Canal Park, Duluth, MN Canal Park, Duluth, MN
Canal Park Duluth, watching a giant boat arriving and we had some hot dogs from Grandma's

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Zack noticed something swimming on the small pool of water on the rocks

tadpoles from lake superior

tadpoles from lake superior
Tadpoles!

caterpillar on Zack's hand
He also saved this cute fella from being smooshed trying to cross the street.

Grand Marais Fog
It was one foggy day at Grand Marais

Lake Superior
fog over lake superior with Zack on the picture, can you see a small ring like on the left of the picture? That's a rainbow covered with fog. We saw a lot of rainbows over the 4 days of our stay there which was quite rare.

Treyton, boat watching
Treyton, boat watching

Lake Superior
Here's Treyton goofing off

miniature golfing at golf n' stuff
Miniature golfing at Golf n' Stuff

At Golf and Stuff

miniature golfing at golf n' stuff at golf n' stuff

yummy sliced moose meat with mango cranberry chutney, wild rice gouda, arugula on a wild rice baguette
Sliced moose meat with mango cranberry and arugula salad, wild rice gouda on a wild rice baguette. Jeff had Elk burger and I had Elk's Shepperd Pie from Northern Lights Cafe 
in Beaver Bay. The restaurant is marked by a red double decker bus on the front of the restaurant.

A must stop place to eat for lunch during Summer time. I can't get over how much I underestimated this place from the outside. I was blown away by their garden overlooking lake superior. The pricey price tag is worth it with a view like what they offer at the restaurant.

Sven and Ole's
Sven and Ole's has been around forever!

Sven and Ole's Sven and Ole's Sven and Ole's
They had some giant Bridgeman's ice cream from Sven and Ole's.

Betty's Pies

Betty's Pies! On the way back to the Twin Cities Zack wished to try one of the giant desserts at Betty's Pies. It consists of 3 slices of pies of your choice, 4 scoops of ice cream with all the toppings, whipped cream, cherries and all and a whole sliced banana. If eaten in 30 minutes you'll get a t-shirt.
Although confident, he did not finish and he owed us fifteen bucks.

boating at Nelson's
We stayed at Nelson's Traveler's Rest and rented one of their cabins. It was cheap, clean and they provided this cute little area for kids to hang out and play and adults to gather around a bonfire.

trucks at Nelson's trucks at Nelson's trucks at Nelson's
Check out these cute metal trucks they had at Nelson's!

downtown grand marais
kick-ass view from the rooftop deck at Gun Flint Tavern in Downtown Grand Marais

downtown grand marais downtown grand marais

Another eatery that we highly recommend (no pictures unfortunately) is Crooked Spoon Cafe. When we first visited this place a couple of years ago to have their Kangaroo burger, we've been coming here every time we visit Grand Marais.

Since I'm a sucker for CLOUDS. I can honestly say these pictures didn't do justice compared to what I saw with my own eyes.

Gorgeous clouds over lake superior
Zack walking on the beach in the freezing water. He said his feet were numb.

Zack and Lake Superior
Zack

Zack and Lake Superior
Zack standing and Treyton sitting

Zack and Lake Superior
Zack

Zack and Lake Superior
Zack, one of my favorite pictures

Treyton looking for agates
That is Treyton examining whether he should pick up that rock or not. Another one of my favorite pictures.

storm clouds
Storm cloud over Lake Superior






























Now you see him, now you don't!

As soon as I saw these pictures from my sister's Facebook page, Ria, I HAD to share this with you. There were 3 of us taking pictures and Ria by far took the best scenario of what happened that day. This was one of the scariest things that ever happened to me next to the time when Treyton had RSV when he was only three months old.

We were in Indonesia at Tanah Lot, Bali, enjoying the view of the Indian ocean. It was cloudy, a little bit of rain, and the waves were super crazy high!

Treyton worked up the courage to come up closer to the beach so I can take his picture and this was my results

What you don't see from the results (previous link), are these:

Now you see Treyton.......